Animal Studies Commons^™

Roadside Zoos Are Not Zoos

Close Up Reports

The HSUS was one of the first national animal welfare organizations to take a long, hard look at all zoos, including roadside menageries. During the last nine years, we have worked intensively, conducting zoo inspections, public education and awareness programs, and developing a working relationship with the professional zoological community as well as U.S. Government agencies charged with the welfare of animals.

Definition Of The Concept Of "Humane Treatment" In Relation To Food And Laboratory Animals, Bernard E. Rollin

Animal Welfare Collection

The very title of this talk makes a suggestion which must be forestalled, namely the idea that laboratory and food animals enjoy some exceptional moral status by virtue of the fact that we use them. In fact, it is extremely difficult to find any morally relevant grounds for distinguishing between food and laboratory animals and other animals and, far more dramatically, between animals and humans. The same conditions which require that we apply moral categories to humans rationally require that we apply them to animals as well. While it is obviously pragmatically impossible in our current sociocultural setting to expect …

Ethology And Laboratory Animal Welfare, James A. Cohen

Laboratory Experiments Collection

At its annual conference, held this June at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, the Animal Behavior Society (ABS) passed a resolution opposing HR 4805, a bill which would establish a National Center for Alternative Research to develop and coordinate alternative methods of research and testing which do not involve the use of live animals. The ABS, which represents some 1750 North American animal behavior researchers, took issue with the bill on the grounds that: a) it discourages replication of previously-obtained results, b) there are currently no satisfactory substitutes for live animals in behavioral research, c) it would complicate and …

Every Fur Coat Hurts

Close Up Reports

CONTENTS

• Every Fur Coat Hurts!
• Whims of Fashion Fatal to Furbearers
• How Many Skins Make a Coat?
• What's it Like to be Trapped?
• Life and Death on the Ranch
• Outlawing the Trap: An Uphill Battle
• Economics of the U.S. Fur Trade
• Seals: The Cruel Clubbing Continues
• You Can Do Something to Save Furbearers
• Help HSUS Help Furbearers!

Euthanasia Of Dogs And Cats: An Analysis Of Experience And Current Knowledge With Recommendation For Research, T. Carding, The Institute For The Study Of Animal Problems

Euthanasia Collection

While it may be regarded by some as inhumane or unethical to take any life, mankind, as responsible stewards of animals, is obliged to do so for many reasons: for food, health, population control, to alleviate incurable suffering, etc. Yet beyond the ironies and ethical dilemmas of the right to life versus the right to take life, lies the necessity to destroy life. This entails an enormous ethical responsibility relevant to the times, and also the moral injunction that the method of killing be humane, in other words, causing the least possible distress, physically and psychologically. This injunction implies, therefore, …

Hsus Spotlights Circus Cruelty

Close Up Reports

Who can deny the sense of excitement the young and the young-at-heart feel when the circus comes to town? The sounds, smells, and attractions create a fantasy world where everything is fun.

But is it all good clean fun? Evidence in recent years suggests quite the contrary. The worst problems seem to be with the smaller circuses. In the past year, The HSUS has assisted several local societies investigating cruelty to animals in traveling circuses, rescued elephants and lions abandoned by a circus, and signed three complaints against one of the largest of today's small big tops.

According to Frantz …

Special Report: Hsus Is A Voice For Animals In Nation's Capital

Special Reports

Power is the name of the game in Washington, D.C. Powerful voices representing every shade of opinion on nearly every subject are seeking constant attention from our lawmakers and civil servants. The Humane Society of the United States is likewise working and speaking for the millions of Americans who care about animals. HSUS is investigating federal agency animal management programs; testifying on Capitol Hill; providing expert advice to legislative committees and congressmen; taking legal action in federal courts; serving on advisory committees; and monitoring legislative, regulatory, and legal affairs having to do with animals.

The voice of The Humane Society …

Special Report On Zoo Reform

Special Reports

The Humane Society of the United States has taken the lead for the past 3 1/2 years in reforming American zoos. HSUS has awakened Americans to the fact that wild animals have been caged inhumanely for many decades in the nation's zoos and that major and drastic actions are necessary to correct these problems. While HSUS has continued to insist that no wild animal should be exploited simply to create an attraction or exhibit, such is not the state of the world as it exists today. Consequently, HSUS is determined to do everything in its power to alleviate the suffering …

Special Report On Rodeo

Special Reports

As a national humane organization of prominence, The Humane Society of the United States felt compelled to launch an objective study of its own to gather facts about rodeo and the possible abuses to the animals involved during performances and behind the scenes. The president and board of H.S.U.S. felt that the facts should be gathered, as unprejudicially as possible, so the truth could have an unveiling and the public be informed of the realities of rodeo.

Robert C. Bay, D.V.M., then a member of the faculty of Colorado State University at Fort Collins, Colorado, was engaged to carry forward …

Special Report On Zoos

Special Reports

In many ways, The Humane Society has become the Ralph Nader of the zoo world, spurring into action the individuals or municipalities who own zoos, the staffs who operate them, the taxpayers who are in the end responsible for their existence, and the federal officials who are now required to ensure that they meet certain standards.

Our Challenge And Our Opportunity, Coleman Burke

Animal Welfare Collection

The other day you probably all read of the death of Gavin Maxwell, who produced that delightful "Ring of Bright Water." He said, "Stage one on the way to understanding human beings is an understanding and affection for animals." Fit this in with the statement from Proverbs. Actually, Gavin Maxwell was more intrigued in his life by animals than by people. And I know there are others here who are. And I accept that. I'm not critical of it. I rejoice that there are people who are more intrigued with animals than with people.

But I have a very deep …

Extension Of Community Programs For Animal Protection, Milton B. Learner

Animal Welfare Collection

My discussion today will cover the development and extension_ of humane activities at the state and local levels. This will include the work of a state federation, a comparison between federations and HSUS branches, and the cooperation in national programs by both-while extending such activities to the grassroots local societies. Whatever authority this speaker can muster on these subjects has been gained essentially, it must be remembered, during his tenure as President of the Indiana Federation of Humane Societies.

A state federation of humane societies is quite impressive in nomenclature. It implies united action, resulting in the exercise of power …

The Challenges Of Leadership, R. J. Chenoweth

Animal Welfare Collection

When a great and demanding need exists in any field of endeavor, it is a historical fact that men of intelligence, integrity and goodwill will find a way to fill that need. Like a rudderless ship, in 1954, the American humane movement was drifting without course or compass in a sea of indifference to animal welfare and outright cruelty for man's personal gain. National animal welfare work had languished for years; there was little direction to humane work at the state and local levels. The humane movement had become, in the eyes of an apathetic public, synonymous with cat and …

How Can We Best Help Laboratory Animals Now?, Oliver Evans

Laws and Legislation Collection

No abstract provided.

Report On Present Condition Of The Humane Movement, R. J. Chenoweth

Animal Welfare Collection

Perhaps I should say right at the beginning that I can find just as many sad, discouraging, and frustrating things as the next man in the daily routines of humane work but about the humane cause and the humane movement I am an incorrigible optimist. There are problems, but we have a record of solving and surmounting problems. There is cruelty and there is suffering, demanding of us unremitting work, but I do solemnly believe that we are steadily, exhilaratingly making progress.

I think, in fact, that the first great premise of this meeting, a conviction implicit in the fact …

The Humane Movement In The United States: 1910-1922, William J. Shultz

This study attempts to continue for the brief period from 1910 to 1922 Professor Roswell C. McCrea's descriptive survey of the Humane Movement in the United States, which covered the distinctive features of legislation and organized efforts for animal and child protection. Professor McCrea gave an outline presentation of the historical background and development for at least a generation prior to 1909-1910. While making free use of Professor McCrea's materials and in some cases restating his conclusions, I have made no attempt to cover the same ground, but have begun this study with the year 1909-1910 where he left off.